Viswasam: Vikram Vedha actress Shraddha Srinath might be roped in to play a pivotal role in Ajith's next

Following a fruitful year in 2017 with films such as Vikram Vedha and Ivan Thanthiran, actress Shraddha Srinath may have just landed her career's first big-ticket project. The U-Turn actress, who forayed into Tamil cinema with a brief role in Mani Ratnam's Kaatru Veliyidai last year, is likely to play a pivotal role in Thala Ajith's Viswasam. However, whether she plays the main lead opposite Ajith or a supporting role, is not yet known.

Shraddha Srinath. Image from Twitter/@filmistreet

After widespread speculations that Anushka Shetty was roped in as the lead heroine of the film, she denied signing it a few days back. "I have no idea about Viswasam. I've not signed anything," said Anushka, who had earlier teamed up with Ajith for the first time in Gautham Menon's cop story Yennai Arindhaal. Asked if she was ever in talks with director Siva for the film, Anushka jokingly said, "Yes. I do talk to director Siva very often. But, we have not spoken anything about Viswasam."

Anushka Shetty starred in the directorial debut of Siva's Telugu action-drama Souryam and shares a good rapport with him.

Thiagarajan is producing Viswasam under his home banner Sathyajyothi Films, which also bankrolled Siva-Ajith's previous movie Vivegam. The film ended up inflicting a marginal loss on the distributors. Viswasam marks director Siva's fourth consecutive collaboration with Ajith after Veeram, Vedalam, and Vivegam.

Sources say Anirudh Ravichander, who delivered chartbuster soundtracks in Vedalam and Vivegam, is in negotiations to compose the music for the project, marking his third collaboration with Siva and Ajith. An official confirmation is awaited.

The shooting for the film is expected to kickstart this month following a pooja ceremony in the city soon. Viswasam is reportedly set in the backdrop of North Chennai and Ajith is getting rid of his salt-and-pepper look for this film after a long time. The makers have already confirmed a Diwali 2018 release alongside two highly-awaited movies, AR Murugadoss and Vijay's Thalapathy 62 and Suriya - Selvaraghavan's Suriya 36.